


Wishing to be Alone Together

by orphan_account



Series: Gumball Collections [2]
Category: The Amazing World of Gumball
Genre: Awkward Conversations, F/M, First Time, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Loss of Virginity, On Hiatus, Semi-Public Sex, Seven Minutes In Heaven Game, Smut, Underage Drinking, Underage Kissing, gumball and penny just wanna bang man, i love gumball and hotdogguy's dynamic, takes place three years after Living a Dream
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:20:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22144753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "Y'know that's too big for you, right?"Gumball snapped his head to his right to face his foe, a defensive scowl on his face. "W-what are you talking about? This would fit fine-""I've seen you naked before." Hot Dog Guy said bluntly, clearly unimpressed.Gumball's open mouth wavered for a few moments, before closing tightly into a pursed frown. He dropped the box back onto the shelf, and grabbed a new one; this one sporting the humbling tagline: Average."Why the hell are you buying this stuff anyway? The last time I checked, hot dogs don't exactly have a… y'know." Gumball waggled his eyebrows teasingly, trying to cover up his hurt ego.Hot Dog Guy rolled his eyes as if expecting the comment. "Hey, you aren't exactly perfect yourself. Don't cat dicks have barbs on them or something, and they're all red and slimy-""First of all, why do you know so much about that?" Gumball wrinkled his nose, "And secondly… fair point, although I will add that mine doesn't have any of that stuff.""Yeah, I know. I've-""Seen you naked before, yeah. I get it." Gumball finished for him with an exasperated sigh.
Relationships: Carrie Krueger/Darwin Watterson, Darwin Watterson & Gumball Watterson, Penny Fitzgerald/Gumball Watterson
Series: Gumball Collections [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1593898
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	Wishing to be Alone Together

"Fancy seeing you here."

Penny couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle; Gumball could always break through her tough shell with his little lines and funny faces, no matter how she was feeling. The fairy turned to him, the edges of her lips quirking upwards.

"Really?"

Gumball shrugged, a sheepish grin on his face as well, "Eh, I thought I might as well try to lighten the mood. You seem on edge."

Penny snorted, shaking her head softly in disbelief, "Do you wanna know _why_ I'm on edge, Gumball?"

"Eh, got nothing better to do. Proceed."

"Well, it's because some _mysterious_ person volunteered for me to join a game of Seven Minutes in Heaven that was taking place at some random party when I clearly said I _didn't_ want to." She huffed, annoyed, "And now, I'm stuck in a stupid closet, wasting seven minutes when I could have been watching Masami make poor drunken decisions."

"Hey, it's not just some random party! It's Tobias' classic summer ending get together. One final bash before school comes back in session and grade twelve starts."

"That's not the point." Penny raised an eyebrow, before crossing her arms over her chest. Even though she had scooted away from the feline, and rested her back against the closet wall, their knees were still touching. "I know you entered my name into the hat. I will admit though I _am_ confused about how you managed to get us called together though."

"I bribed Leslie," Gumball admitted. _Eh, it's probably in my best interest, to tell the truth. I don't want these remaining minutes trapped in here with a dragon._ "And c'mon, this is fun, isn't it? We're in a closet together! Alone! For… six minutes!"

Penny paused, "Wait, so the only reason why you entered me into the game was so you could rig it so we'd end up stuck in here together?"

Gumball nodded, grinning widely, "Isn't it romantic?"

"... Gumball, we've been dating for almost five years now. If you want to have some time alone together, you could just ask. There's no need for you to bribe my cousin"

Gumball's mouth fell open to answer, but he didn't make a sound; his lips taking a moment to catch up with his brain. "I… guess that's true."

Penny couldn't help but snicker at his misfortune, "How much did you give him?"

"...twentyshsisbucks…"

"Hm?"

" _Twenty bucks."_

Penny didn't hold back her laughter anymore, and she giggled freely. Gumball playfully glared at her, sticking out his tongue. At his familiar and silly expression, she felt as though a warm blanket had been draped across her heart; washing away any frustrations she currently had with the cat. _I love him so much_.

" _Oh Gumball._ " She cooed, before leaning forward and kissing him. Gumball couldn't help but jump at the sudden embrace, thanks to the dim lighting of the closet, but he quickly adjusted and went along with it; his hands coming to rest on her waist. Gumball couldn't help but grin against her lips, which she quickly returned. The kiss was messy but familiar, and Penny wouldn't trade it for anything.

What wasn't familiar however was a blue hand suddenly cupping her ass. The fairy couldn't help but squeak into their kiss at the unexpected feeling, and she pulled away. "Gumball!" She yelped, before playfully punching his shoulder.

The feline couldn't help but laugh at her flustered state and brought their lips crashing back into each other. As if his action had ignited something, the embrace became increasingly passionate, and Penny leaned even further against him; practically straddling him as they sat in the small, dark closet. He groaned into her mouth, his claws digging into the fabric of her flowy knee-length skirt. Gumball dimly remembered his praise of it when she was trying it on at the mall, but now more so than ever he wished she went with the shorter one.

Suddenly, Penny pressed herself against his lap, and they both shared a breathy moan; the feeling sending sparks up each of their spines. Although pleasant, the feeling seemingly awakened them from their hormonal filled state, and they quickly broke their passionate kiss; both heavily panting. The little room was unbearably hot now. Still, Penny didn't budge from her spot on his lap; her eyes falling to meet his.

Now with his eyes open, Gumball could see Penny was glowing; literally. A soft pink light emitted from her, and the color-matched the soft blush on her cheeks.

" _Wow.._." He muttered to himself, not even fully aware he had spoken out loud. _At moments like these, I remember just how lucky I am to have a girlfriend like her. I really did hit the jackpot._

Penny's blush darkened, and she giggled nervously at his awe-filled tone. She reached forward and cupped his cheek; her hands soft against his blue pelt.

"You're so unbelievably pretty." Gumball chuckled in disbelief as if he still couldn't wrap his mind around how he had lucked out with a girl like Penny.

The fairy paused, before smiling bashfully, "Well, I think you're unbelievably pretty too~"

The feline's eyes widened, but quickly a goofy grin spread across his face as well; his muzzle colored a soft pink because of the compliment. He pressed his cheek deeper into her hand, and a soft purr came from deep within his chest.

" _I love you, Penny."_ He grinned, his words slightly muffled from his cheek being smashed into her palm.

" _I love you too, Gummy_." The fairy replied softly back, rubbing her thumb across his cheek slowly. Gumball smiled at her, but it was quickly replaced with an apologetic grimace; much to Penny's confusion.

"...I'm sorry for dragging you into this game." He added as an afterthought. "I know how much you like seeing Masami making a fool out of herself, and how much you hate these cliche highschool party games, so yeah. This was kinda sucky of me. I'll try to make it up to you later tho-"

"I want to have sex."

Gumball's mouth, which was open mid-sentence, immediately clamped shut; and he looked up at her with wide eyes. He was silent for a few seconds as if running her words through his head before his face slowly morphed into an expression of shock and awe. "Uh...what was that?"

"I want to have sex," Penny repeated, and a playful but genuine smile began to stretch across her face; her hand that was cupping his cheek fell to lay limply against his clothed chest. The feline took another few seconds to process her words once more, his eyes unable to determine if he should look at her hand or her eyes.

"B-but I thought you wanted to wait till we were older to do that type of stuff!"

It was true. A few months ago, Penny had told him she wanted them to save their virginities until they were 'more mature.' Gumball agreed with his girlfriend because he loved her, but being the hormonal teenage boy he was… the feline couldn't help but hate the idea. Still, though, they had kept up with it, and they always made sure to shut down their makeout sessions quickly as to lessen the chance of the two of them slipping up. Recently though, it had been more…difficult to pull themselves together; a mixture of hormones and the usual summer heat were to blame

"I changed my mind."

"...Why? N-not that I'm against it or anything! Just… curious."

Penny hesitated, before smiling down at him from her position on his lap. "Well, whenever I imagined my… _first time_. I always picture it with you. And with you kissing me and your apology it just kinda made me realize… we've both have grown up. I mean, of course, we're not adults yet. Hell, I doubt you'll ever act like a real adult, but we've matured. I bet on my life, five years ago you wouldn't have apologized to me about something as small as this."

Gumball snorted but shrugged. "Fair enough."

Penny snickered but continued. "All of this just made me realize… I _want_ my first time to be with you, so why does it matter when it happens? It's going to go down eventually between us, so why not now? Besides, I've been rethinking our 'deal' recently anyway. I don't think it was fair to write off sex so quickly-" Her comforting grin quickly turned into a confused frown as she trailed to a stop. "...Are you crying?"

"N-no!" Gumball sniffled with a goofy grin, wiping the small tears away with the back of his hand. "I just got dirt in my eyes."

Penny laughed, before leaning forward to kiss the tear tracks that matted his blue face fur. Gumball snickered as well, and he wrapped his arms around her waist; bringing her even closer than before.

"So… when you said you'd wanna have sex. Do you mean like, right now?" The feline asked after a few seconds of blissful silence; bashful about the whole ordeal, but excited as well; evident by his restless legs and wandering eyes.

"Isn't that what kids usually do during this game?" She smirked, before pressing her lips passionately against his. Gumball groaned softly and cocked his head to deepen the exchange.

"TIMES UP, _LOVEBIRDS_!"

They sprang apart in shock, a mixture of a gasp and squeak leaving their mouths. Penny visibly trembled for a few moments, struggling to keep her emotional shapeshifting at bay, before letting out a soft sigh. It seemed like she won the internal battle. _Nothing is more embarrassing than turning into a jackalope while making out with your boyfriend._ Penny thought to herself, taking deep breaths to calm her nerves; the fairy couldn't even remember the last time she had been jumped scared like that.

 _Seven minutes is up already?! Damn, we lost track of time!_ Gumball shook his head to clear it, before glancing over to Penny. She looked just as surprised as him, and she quickly met his gaze.

"Um-" Gumball began.

"We'll talk after we get out of here." Penny nodded reassuringly and began to straighten out her blouse. Gumball licked his lips nervously, before moving to stand up on shaky legs. He gave Penny his hand and helped her up as well. The closet was tiny, but the squeeze was even tighter now that they stood; their clothed chests brushing against one another. Gumball's blush somehow darkened even more, and he swallowed.

"Heh, I-"

Tobias' familiar neon party lights fell over them as the closet door was yanked opened. The feline flinched at the sudden light change, as well as the sudden shouts from his classmates. There was a small group sitting casually around the closet: lounging on the plain twin bed pushed into the corner of the room, or on the fluffy carpet that sat in the middle of the space.

The room used to be Rachel's, but after she moved away to college, Tobias' parents had refurbished it to be a guest room; but during his famous parties, it was the designated _Seven Minutes in Heaven_ space. It had the best closet in the house, after all.

Leslie laughed teasingly at the flustered couple, a knowing look on his face. "Sooooo… how was your time in _Heaven_?"

The others in the room: Carmen, Teri, Tobias, Jamie, and Tina, joined in on laughing as well. Penny and Gumball stepped out of the closet and brushed off their ruffled clothes. There was an awkward pause as they looked at each other, arguing with just their expressions in a way only couples can; before Gumball turned back to face his classmates. It seemed like he lost the argument.

"You wanna know what, it was _great_." Gumball grinned sarcastically. "And I hope your time in there is just as great as ours!"

The feline grasped Penny's hand, and began to make his way out of the room; halfway to the door though, he paused.

"Don't know why you're in here though." He frowned at Tina, before glancing at the closet. "I don't think you can even fit in there, not to mention any sane person would jump ship if they got paired up with you." Gumball shrugged, ignoring the dinosaur's sudden downcasted expression, before stepping out of the room.

Penny couldn't help but snicker softly as they walked down the hallway, and she squeezed his hand tighter. "Nice save."

"You owe me." He snorted playfully. "Tina is _definitely_ gonna make me pay for that on Monday."

Penny paused before a smirk began to spread across her face. "Oh, how will I _ever_ repay you?" She fluttered her eyelashes and pressed her body against his arm.

Gumball frowned and looked off into space, clearly thinking deeply about how she could repay her debt. "Hm, you should… give me your pudding cup on Monday! Yeah, that'd be good! I've been trying to convince my Mom to buy them for my lunch, but she won't go for it. Which sucks, cause _damn_ , they're delicious."

"...Seriously?"

"What?"

The fairy sighed. _God, he can be dense sometimes._ "I was flirting with you."

"Oh." Gumball paused before his eyes began to widen; his cheeks growing red once more. He looked down at his arm, which was currently being nuzzled in between Penny's clothed breasts. " _Ohhh…"_

Penny laughed, and leaned in even closer, gently kissing his furry cheek. " _Is this better than pudding?"_

Clearly having a mental breakdown, Gumball stuttered, " _I-it's a tie at the moment."_

"Well, let's try to change that." She grinned, before breaking apart from his grasp, and quickly walking to the end of the hall. On the left was the staircase down to the first floor; which throbbed with party music and lights, as well as the familiar shouts and cheers of drunk teens. On the right, was a door labeled with various stickers and signs; a bedroom. Specifically, _Tobias's_ bedroom.

Penny smirked, and turned the knob, causing the door to open up with a faint squeak. She peeked inside, and her grin widened. "It's vacant."

"...Y-you want to have sex in Tobias' bedroom-!"

"Shh! You'll get us caught." Penny placed a finger over his mouth to quiet his yelp, before slowly withdrawing her hand.

Gumball's jaw fell to the floor. "You can't be serious."

"I've never been more serious." Penny's smirk slowly melted away into a hesitant grimace. "But... it's okay if you don't want to do it of course. I was just trying to be more _adventurous_ -"

Gumball leaped forward, his lips crashing against Penny's. She squeaked at the sudden embrace, but she quickly and happily accepted it; lightly tugging on the feline's sweater to pull him into the room. Gumball missed the first time, but he managed to finally kick the door closed behind them his second try.

They continued to blindly walk back into the room, the couple sharing a yelp of surprise when Penny's knees hit the side of Tobias' twin bed; causing both of them to come crashing down on top of it. The bed was surprisingly made, most likely just in case the multicolored fluff somehow managed to get a girl in his room.

 _Well, he succeeded. Just probably not in the way he thought…_ The fairy couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. Penny's giggles were infectious, and Gumball couldn't help but laugh into her neck as well; pressing messy kisses onto her skin.

 _"Hmf~ T-take this off,_ " Penny said, out of breath. She tugged weakly on the plaid he wore over his familiar beige sweater. Wordlessly, Gumball sat up and began to tug it off. Penny watched with half-lidded eyes, and with a goofy smile on her face. The feline threw it to the side once he successfully slid it off, and he leaned over her once more; his mouth finding purchase on her neck.

The fairy let out a soft hiss of air as he laid kisses over her shoulders and neck. " _Ah, Gumball-"_

 _"A-Anybody in here_?"

They sprung apart; Penny sitting up quickly on the bed, while Gumball stumbled over his feet and fell onto a pile of Tobias' dirty clothes, cursing the whole way down.

The door opened, and Darwin stumbled inside; his green beanie barely hanging onto his head. The fish was drunk, evident by his dazed expression and the red solo cup balanced in his hand. All annoyances Gumball had been suddenly wiped away, quickly replaced with worry for his brother

"Oh, hey Penny." His brother smiled before his gaze fell to the blue cat at his feet. "And Gumball. What were you guys up to?"

"Dude, are you drunk?" The feline asked, ignoring his brother's question.

The fish paused, before snorting. "Pff, as if! All I've had to drink was the punch-"

"I saw Masami pour her dad's booze into that." Penny frowned. "How many cups have you had?"

"I don't know, like… five? Six?"

"What the _what_?!" Gumball exclaimed, and he quickly got to his feet. "How the hell didn't you notice it was spiked?"

"Maybe he did know, and kept on drinking." Penny raised an eyebrow, and stood as well; her clothes ruffled.

"Guy guys!" Darwin slurred, and put his hands out as to stop them; the liquid in his cup spilled slightly over the top. "I'm fine, okay? Besides, Carrie has been looking after me. I'm all good!"

"Carrie?" Penny and Gumball questioned in unison.

"You called?"

They jumped at the girl's voice and spun around only to see her floating above the bed.

"I thought you didn't come to parties." Penny frowned.

Gumball snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah, don't you call them _poser orgies_ or something like that _?"_

"Yeah, well, my plans for the evening changed when this numbskull." The ghost gestured to her boyfriend. "Called for me in the bathroom while puking his guts out. I'd be a heartless monster to leave him out there alone like this."

"I'm standing right here, y'know." Darwin swayed on his feet, his drink swishing in its cup once again. Penny sighed, before reaching forward and tugging the cup from his grasp; putting it down on Tobias' dresser.

"You're lucky Mom and Dad are gone for the weekend, man." Gumball sighed. "They'd kill you if you came home like this."

"Your parents aren't home?" Penny asked.

"Nope, they won a weekend vacation upstate. My Dad bought the ten-thousandth ice cream at that place in the mall, and that was the prize. They decided to make it like their _second honeymoon_ , or whatever." Gumball shrugged, his eyes still disapprovingly glued to the fish. "Kinda selfish if you ask me-"

"Okay, this has gone offtopic." Carrie groaned. "But I know what you're getting at. You want me to walk your brother home, right?"

"I mean, he's also _your_ boyfriend." Gumball rolled his eyes. "Besides, it's not like you can just dump him on our doorstep. You'd have to help him inside, get him set up to sleep on the couch, give him some pain meds. Y'know, the works."

"...Ugh, fine, I'll do it." She huffed in annoyance, before floating toward the fish, and grasping his hand; a small smile making its way onto her face. "I have a feeling it's going to take a while though. He's probably going to have to stop and vomit in a bush."

Gumball wrinkled his nose. "... Do you want us to help you?"

Carrie hesitated, before shaking her head. "No, it'll be fine."

"Call us if anything goes wrong, okay?" Penny said softly.

" _Byyyyyeee guys!"_ Darwin grinned, and Gumball had to swallow the coo that had begun to erupt from his throat. _Curse him for even being cute when he's drunk!_

"Fine, _mom,"_ Carrie smirked, ignoring the fish, before gently tugging Darwin back into the hallway. "You two have _fun_ , heh heh heh..."

"Yeah, okay. Run along before Darwin throws up on the carpet." Gumball snarled with a blush, before closing the door once more.

The couple stood in silence for a few seconds, before meeting each other's gaze.

"We can't do it here." They said in unison, and they both jumped slightly in surprise.

"Wait really?" Gumball asked. "I thought you wanted to be adventurous?"

"Yeah, well, I changed my mind when your brother almost walked in on us. Meanwhile, a ghost just popped into the room like it's no big deal. I think I learned my lesson."

"Not to mention we'd be taking each other's V cards in _Tobias'_ bed." Gumball raised an eyebrow. "Don't forget that part."

Penny rolled her eyes with a snicker. "I have a feeling you won't forget for a while."

Gumball snickered as well, and walked over to the bed; pulling his plaid back on that was previously piled into a ball near the headboard. "So… do you just want to wait until another day or-"

"No!" Penny exclaimed, before blushing and continuing with a soft voice. "No, of course not. We just… need to find a better place."

"For tonight?"

"For tonight." The fairy repeated, before frowning in thought. "We could go to my house."

The mental image of Mr. Fitzgerald bodychecking him while Mr. Cuddles laid eggs in his eyes made Gumball shiver. "Pass."

"How about a hotel than"

"I definitely don't have enough money for that." Gumball huffed. "Oh, what about the forest!"

" _The Forest_?!" Penny exclaimed. "Last time we went there, we almost got killed."

"Yeah, but it's also where our first kiss was, so it'd be kinda romantic-"

"Yeah, no. We're not doing that again." Penny sighed.

"...What about my house?" Gumball asked after a few seconds of silence. Penny frowned and turned to face him.

"Don't you share a bedroom with your siblings?"

"Darwin and I moved up into the attic a couple of months ago, remember? It's super nice up there if I do say so myself!" The feline smirked proudly. It was one of his "personal" projects he had managed to finish before giving up or getting bored. Saving up his money to make the attic livable, and not only that but _comfortable_ and _awesome_ as well? Everyone in his family had agreed it was some of his best work! Anais was particularly happy about the whole ordeal; now having the opportunity to set up the bedroom of her dreams without her _stupid_ brothers sharing a room with her.

"And I suppose you did say your parents were away…" She sighed. "But, what about Carrie and Darwin?"

"They won't bother us. Besides, I made sure Carrie set him up on the couch so he wouldn't bother me if he had to get up in the middle of the night and vomit." Gumball shrugged. "As long as we're quiet, we'll be fine." He added as an afterthought.

Penny hesitated before a small smile returned to her face. "Okay then. Your house it is."

Gumball shared her smile and took her hand in his own. "Let's ago!"

* * *

This was all Penny's fault. If she hasn't been looking at him like _that_ , then Gumball wouldn't have felt the need to pull them into one of the alleys between buildings, and press her against the wall; his mouth hot on her neck.

Penny groaned happily at the feeling, and dug her fingers into his fur; one of her hands sneaking down in between them.

" _W-what happened to your house?"_ She gasped softly into his ear. Gumball pulled apart just enough to look her in the eyes, their bodies still tight against one another's.

" _W-we're still going, I just wanted to take a little pit stop."_ Gumball chuckled sheepishly, breathless. " _I couldn't help myself. You kept on making this face-"_

"A face?"

" _You know exactly what I'm talking about,"_ Gumball replied quickly. Penny only shrugged, a knowing smirk on her face. The feline rolled his eyes and leaned forward once again, capturing her lips with his.

" _Mmh~"_ Penny sighed into the exchange, the hand that laid between them finally reaching Gumball's zipper.

_Zrrrp-_

"Now, what do we have here?"

As if they expected to be interrupted, knowing their luck, Gumball and Penny froze; slowly turning their head to face the person speaking to them. The fairy silently rezipped Gumball's jeans.

It was the homeless hairy guy, who Gumball had no idea who his name was. _Damn it, not this guy!_

"Um-"

"Oi! I recognize you! That little blue cat who invited me to the mall that one time. Or tried to drown me in money." His eyes brightened in recognition. "I haven't seen you for a while, buddy! You've got big, haha! Aw man, I see y'all replaced your little fish friend with this fairy girl. Gonna miss the Lil' buddy."

"...are you being sarcastic?" Penny asked, cocking her head in confusion.

"Can't you tell?"

"Well, this has been fun." Gumball grinned forcefully, adding a little awkward chuckle in at the end for good measure. He pulled away from Penny, letting her step away from the wall, before grabbing her hand. "It's nice seeing you…." He trailed off.

"My name is Hobo! And you gotta go already?"

"Y-yeah, sorry Hobo- wait is that actually your name- wanna know what nevermind. See you later dude." Gumball cringed, slowly backing out of the alley. Penny followed, giving her a forced smile.

"It was nice meeting you." She added.

"Eh! Don't forget, you owe me a date!" The homeless laughed gruffly after Gumball and Penny, who had quickly turned on their heels and sped walked away.

They continued the quick pace for a few minutes, before slowing down after they made sure they were alone.

"Okay, so, no more alley stuff. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Penny repeated with a shiver. "Good thing it wasn't anyone important, I can handle creepy homeless men, but my Dad? Ugh…"

Gumball grimaced at the thought. "Right. Let's save it for my room."

Penny nodded. "How far is your house from here, do you think?"

Gumball frowned in thought. "Hmm… probably a ten-minute walk? It sucks that Tobias' house is across town."

Penny sighed in agreement, squeezing his hand comfortingly, before letting her mind wander as they walked.

* * *

"Condoms!"

Gumball jumped at the sudden exclamation and quickly swiveled his head to face his girlfriend. They had been walking in silence for a couple of minutes now, and the sudden yelp had abruptly wakened Gumball from his thoughts.

"What?"

"Condoms." Penny repeated, "Do you have any? I'm not on the pill so-"

"... Dammit, how could've I forgotten that!" Gumball cursed. "No, I don't have any. I didn't think this moment was gonna come soon, so…"

Penny smiled softly. "It's okay. It's not your fault. Maybe there's a place open still that we can stop by?"

"Well…There _is_ that drug store a couple of minutes away from here-"

"Perfect, that'll work."

They walked for a couple more minutes, before finally arriving at the small drug store Gumball was talking about. The parking lot was deserted, and the feline could only spot Larry in the front of the store; it seemed like he was the only one in there.

Penny glanced up at the sign, "Open 24 hours. Lucky for us." She mumbled, mostly to herself. "Alright. I'll wait here while you go get them."

Gumball nodded, but slowly yet surely, a hesitant grimace spread across his face as her words sunk in. "Wait, _I_ have to go get them? Why can't you?!"

"Because Larry works for my father-"

"To be fair, he works for a lot of people-" Gumball interrupted with a flick of his eyes.

Penny ignored him. "And if he were to see _me_ buying condoms at midnight on a Saturday and tell my father, he would _kill_ you and ground me for life!"

"Yeah, well, it still looks bad if _your boyfriend_ goes in there and gets them. Larry knows we're dating, y'know. Wouldn't be hard to put two and two together."

"But it's different for you. If Larry asks you can just say, oh I don't know… you're doing that stupid condom water balloon challenge with your brother. I doubt he'd believe me if I told him _that_ story, considering who my sibling is."

Gumball frowned, picturing Polly, before shaking his head to clear his mind, "Face it, you're just using your dad as an excuse to not go in there because you're embarrassed to buy this stuff."

Penny hesitated, before sighing, "In all honesty, I _am_ worried about my dad finding out, but I mean, it's also the fact that when women are seen doing stuff like this, their reputation can be tarnished because society labels them as a slut. For men it's different. You guy's _like_ showing this part of you off. Hell, I bet Larry will give you a cheeky grin and a high five alongside your receipt if you went in there. Me, he'd probably get all awkward and judge me..."

Gumball surprisingly for once went quiet, clearly thinking about what she said. Penny felt herself begin to smile. _He really has matured, hasn't he-_

"Why don't we just go in together?" Gumball asked, stubbornly crossing his arms over his chest.

Penny huffed, rolling her eyes. _Of course, he'd ignore me. Oh, Gumball... Well, time to break out the big guns then._

"Gumball?"

"Yeah?"

"If you go in there and get them, I'll do _anything_ you want."

"...You already owe me for saving our butts back at the party, what else could you...do..." Gumball trailed off as he saw her suave smirk, the same look that had caused him to pull her into the alley earlier. Immediately, a blush returned to his cheeks, and his fur suddenly felt too hot. Penny bit back a snicker at his reaction, before taking another few steps forward.

"Yeah, well now you'd get _two favors_ …Two things you could do to me, or…" Penny smiled seductively, leaning in closer against her boyfriend, her lips brushing against his sensitive ear fur. " _Two things I could do to you~"_

"I-I mean-"

"Don't forget _why_ were buying condoms in the first place, Gummy." Penny reminded him, using a finger to twirl a longer piece of Gumball's blue fur. "I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to pay you back… _tonight~"_

Gumball shivered, swallowing nervously, before burying his hands deep into his pocket; a grumpy pout on his face, as he pulled away from her.

Penny smirked. _Victory._

"F-fine! I'll do it. Jeez, save it for the bedroom, will you?" The feline grumbled in annoyance, turning on his heel and heading towards the entrance of the store.

"I love you!" Penny giggled after him.

Gumball flashed her a quick thumbs-up, his back still to her. It made the fairy laugh even harder.

He removed his hands from his pockets when he entered the store, making sure to look at least a _little_ normal. _C'mon Gumball, you can do this. It's not that weird._

The cat walked slowly past the front register, where Larry had dozed off while counting money. At the sound of the cheery bells singling his arrival however, the man jumped awake.

" _W-welcome to TDM Gas, how can I help you-_ Oh. Hey Gumball." Larry yawned, clearly relieved the teen wasn't his boss or a scathing customer. He rubbed at his eyes sleepily, before continuing. "Haven't seen you in here for a while, especially at this time of night. What are you up to?"

"Um… just hanging out, doing teenage stuff, w-went to a party earlier so…"

Larry chuckled. "Aha, I see. I remember high school parties! They get pretty wild, eh?" He grinned, but it slowly slid from his face. "O-of course… I was never invited, but I'd hear about them from my friend! Crazy stuff…"

Gumball nodded along awkwardly, cringing. "Heh, yeah, crazy...stuff." The feline cleared his throat, "Um, do you know where the _farm an icicle_ section is?"

Larry paused, " _Farm an-_ Oh, you mean pharmaceutical! That's aisle one, on the other side of the store."

"Cool cool, I'm gonna go…there then." Gumball winced at his wording, "I'll be back."

Larry laughed, oblivious to Gumball's awkwardness. "I'd hope so, otherwise you'd be shoplifting, and I'd have to call the police on you… _again._ "

The feline cringed, nodding in agreement with an awkward chuckle, before quickly walking away; face palming as soon as he was out of eye distance. _That was so weird. Ugh…_

Gumball turned down aisle one and began the search for his prize. It only took a few seconds, before he managed to stumble upon what he was looking for.

" _Jesus, why the hell is this section so big?"_ Gumball mumbled quietly to himself, glaring at the shelves and shelves of birth control. _I suppose it makes sense, with some many different 'types' of people in Elmore, you'd have to stock up a large variety of stuff like this. It's only fair, just like how Sex Ed in class was over a month-long, so Miss. Simian could go over everything._ He shivered at the memory.

Gumball picked a random box off the shelf, and read it quietly to himself. "... _Rain catcher_?"

He raised an eyebrow at the picture on the box, an image of two clouds like Masami floating above a bed giving each other tantalizing looks, before placing it back on the shelf.

"Ew." He wrinkled his nose, before taking a step back. "There has to be some kind of sign saying- there it is!"

Gumball looked at the top of the shelving, spotting small signs that seemingly categorized the birth control into different sections. "What'd I be? 3D? Nope. Plant? Definitely not. Ghost? How would that even work... Oh, mammal!"

Gumball stepped over to his own small section, immediately recognizing what the pictures on the boxes were displaying. His ears flattened awkwardly against his head at the odd choices of packaging. The feline shook his head to clear it, and leaned in closer, reading the names.

"Flavoured, lubed, non-lubed, colored? Why the hell would- Ugh, nevermind." Gumball sighed, before continuing. "Wait, what size would I be?" _I mean, not to brag, but I think I'm packing_ quite _a punch if you know what I mean, hehehe…_

With an egotistical grin, Gumball reached for the largest size he could find. _I guess this isn't so bad, hopefully, Larry isn't as much trouble-_

His thoughts immediately froze as another, unfamiliar hand grabbed the same box he had chosen. With a very _manly_ squeal, Gumball ripped his hand away from the other person's; holding his appendage against his chest as if protecting it. The other person did as well, yelping and taking a step back. Both of their necks snapped simultaneously to look at one another, but immediately their polite, but forced, apologies died in their throats.

"...you've. got. to. be. _KIDDING me!"_ Gumball cried out loud, tugging at the blue fur on his head in a stressed manner. "Why is it _always_ you?!"

"How did you sneak up on me like that?!" Hot Dog Guy replied, ignoring the cat's question.

"How did I?! How did _you?!"_ Gumball yelped. "Seriously, you came out of nowhere!"

Hot Dog Guy groaned, "I was standing right here the whole time! Unlike you, who was very clearly trying to jumpscare me!"

"Why the hell would I try to _scare_ you?! Seriously, man, I'm just trying to buy... condoms…" His voice trailed off, and suddenly, the awkward energy that Gumball had begun to know _too well_ , had returned. He sighed, defeated. "Of course you'd show up now."

Hot Dog Guy's widened behind his glasses as he realized the situation they were now in. "Oh. Right."

Gumball massaged his temples, "Okay man, look. Let's just forget this happen, and continue shopping. Okay? Maybe we can avoid the usual awkward mess if we just, y'know, stick to ourselves."

"Fine." He frowned, turning back towards the shelves. The cat let out a deep breath, before going back to the box he was going to grab. He quickly snatched it up and begun to read the label. _Magnum Size, ooh I like the sound of that! Lubed and-_

"Y'know that's too big for you, right?"

Gumball snapped his head to his right to face his foe, a defensive scowl on his face. _What did I just say about staying out of my way?!_ "W-what are you talking about? This would fit fine-"

"I've seen you naked before." Hot Dog Guy said bluntly, clearly unimpressed.

Gumball's open mouth wavered for a few moments, before closing tightly into a pursed frown. He dropped the box back onto the shelf, and grabbed a new one; this one sporting the humbling tagline: _Average._

"Why the hell are you buying this stuff anyway? The last time I checked, hot dogs don't exactly have a… _y'know_." Gumball waggled his eyebrows teasingly, trying to cover up his hurt ego.

Hot Dog Guy rolled his eyes as if expecting the comment. "Hey, you aren't exactly perfect yourself. Don't cat dicks have barbs on them or something, and they're all red and slimy-"

"First of all, why do you know so much about that?" Gumball wrinkled his nose, "And secondly… fair point, although I will add that mine _doesn't_ have any of that stuff."

"Yeah, I know. I've-"

"Seen you naked before, yeah. I get it." Gumball finished for him.

"...And for the record, I have one as well, a-and I use it too." Hot Dog Guy said, immediately thickening the awkward tension in the air; Gumball turning to give the hot dog a disgusted look. "In fact, I'm here to restock my supply for Clare and me."

Immediately, Gumball's disgust turned into confusion and curiosity. "Clare? I didn't know you two were dating."

Hot Dog Guy raised an eyebrow, "... We've been together for two years now."

"Oh." Gumball bit his lip awkwardly.

"You really are an asshole."

Gumball sighed. "I get that surprisingly often."

" _Really not that surprising…"_ Hot Dog Guy muttered under his breath, but Gumball chose to ignore him.

A thick tension landed in between them, causing the two teens to fidget as they continued to scan the shelf.

"So… when did you _do it_ for the first time?" Hot Dog Guy asked awkwardly, cringing at his own words.

The feline flinched, before forcing himself to glance at the other boy, "Um, like a _long_ time ago, when I was...t-thirteen or something. Yeeeaaah... I'm basically a pro now." He lied sloppily, sweating bullets. _If he knows I'm still a virgin, this will make this so much weirder. He'd probably try to give me weird hot dog advice._

Hot Dog Guy gave him a raised eyebrow knowingly but decided not to bother with the lying cat. "Well, I actually did it for the first time on Clare and mine's first date. We were in a movie theater see, and-"

"And that's when I take my leave." Gumball hissed quickly, deciding on the box he had been holding, "I would say it's been fun, but it really hasn't."

"Ditto."

"I'll see you later. Most likely when the stars align and decide that my ego needs to be knocked down a few pegs."

"I'm not looking forward to it." Hot Dog Guy frowned, and Gumball could only nod in agreement.

The cat turned on his heel, and left the aisle; once against finding himself in front of Larry.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" He smiled, unable to see the item in question.

Defeated, Gumball let out a soft _"yes"_ and placed the condoms on the counter.

Gumball heard a faint snicker, but other than that, Larry was silent. The feline kept his head down as the birth control was scanned and bagged; something Gumball didn't even ask Larry to do but still appreciated.

"Twelve dollars and thirty cents please."

Gumball rummaged around in his jeans, before pulling out his wallet. He handed Larry the money, still avoiding eye contact, before putting his wallet back in place.

The register made a few noises, and suddenly Larry was handing him the receipt. "Hehe, have a _nice_ night, Gumball. Tell Darwin I said hi!"

Gumball gritted his teeth together, grabbed his bag, and sped walked out of there; cringing the whole way out.

Penny looked up from where she sat on the curb, the edges of her lips tilting upwards as she saw Gumball awkwardly walk back to her. She stood up, brushing off her skirt, and walked over to meet him.

"So, how did it-"

"Hot Dog Guy was in the condom aisle and he asked me weird questions and kept on saying how he knew what I looked like naked," Gumball muttered as if in shock, his words surprisingly emotionless.

Penny paused, before trying to cover up her giggles by placing her hand on her mouth; it didn't work.

Gumball glared at her, "You're buying it next time."

"...Next time?"

Gumball paused, and his glare was quickly replaced with a worried expression, "I-I mean, I figured that y'know… a-and there's only ten in this box so we'd eventually run out. Unless you don't w-wanna do anything after this-"

Penny smirked, "I'm kidding, of course, I'll do it next time." She looked down at the bag in his hands. "You said ten?"

"Yep." He nodded, looking more content than before.

"Good! That should last us…" Penny gripped his hand with her own, giving him her signature suave smirk. "At _least_ the next couple days."

Gumball's eyes widened, and he laughed softly. "Heh, right…. Wait, are you serious?"

Her only response was an innocent kiss to his cheek.

**Author's Note:**

> The next chapter is not gonna come for a long time lol. This chapter was something just tucked in my drafts and I felt guilty withholding it. I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.


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